Rouxbe Online Culinary School
https://rouxbe.com/
https://rouxbe.com/assets/logo/dark-7d6e4eb5603ef573242bfc74b5b7e369d476555f00d299a845d6375ff1596e13.png
Founded in 2005, Rouxbe ("ROO-bee") is the world's leading online cooking school. Rouxbe offers instructor-guided certification cooking courses for cooks of all levels using intuitive learning technology. Courses can be taken on demand, at your own pace. Rouxbe can be found in the kitchens of homes, schools, restaurants and professional culinary academies in over 180 countries.

Method

Step 1: Making the Vinaigrette/Dressing

Peel the garlic and shallots and roughly chop. Add the shallots and garlic to a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Add the honey, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Puree for a minute or two. Then add the oil and puree again. Taste the dressing to see if there is enough seasoning and sweetness for your liking. Adjust if necessary.

This dressing can be stored in an airtight container for at least a week in the refrigerator.

Chef's Notes

This is a fabulous dressing to make ahead and have a bottle in your fridge. It will last for at least a week.

This vinaigrette can be used as a base to build other salad dressings. You could add a bit of Dijon and some fresh herbs to vary the flavor. Or, you can try adding different vinegars or some lime juice instead of the lemon juice. You could even try pomegranate molasses instead of the honey. The substitution list is endless, so have some fun experimenting!

Also, this is a very tart recipe but very healthy, which is why it doesn’t have much oil in it. If it is a bit too tart for you, simply add a bit more oil to lighten the flavor.

12 Comments

Faith M

•
July 26, 2008 at 11:50AM

This dressing was a breeze to make and keeps very well in the refrigerator. My family was delighted with the intense flavor, and I find that a little dressing goes a long way. Perfect for my diet!!

I made a spinach salad w/ strawberries and pecans and used is dressing. I made it all according to the directions and did not change the tast by adding more honey or oil. It was perfect for by salad! The sweetness of the strawberries added enough fo the dressing, as is.

I was looking for a base to make a seafood marinade and getting a bit overwhelmed by all of the options. This fit the bill perfectly. I only had 1/2 lemon so I added a lime and it came out fine. Definitely want to make as dressing next time!

I love this dressing. My wife, who usually doesn't like lemon juice (I think it's because she isn't used to fresh lemon juice yet) remarked "very nice, [two...one...] Wow, that packs a punch!"
I am curious, though...this recipe seems to stray from the traditional vinaigrette ratio's--I doubt I would have discovered it on my own. Any insight on the logic of its composition?

The thing with cooking Eric, is that even though there are ratios, formulas, rules etc, in the end, these are only guidelines or someone else's idea of what works for them.
When it comes to making vinaigrettes, I rarely, if ever follow a particular formula. Making dressings and vinaigrettes has always been something that I like to play around with — I feel like a mad scientist playing around with potions. I also like big flavor, so my vinaigrettes often have a higher acidity ratio then "traditional" vinaigrettes.
That being said, there are times when just a little olive oil is nice, but generally, I like a V/D with a punch. I also really like lemon — a lot :-)
Hope that helps explain the logic of the composition. I guess in the end, I just don't like to follow the rules :-)

I remember reading somewhere that garlic in oil isn't safe to keep longer than a day or two. I'm just curious how this works in dressings when something like this has garlic and olive oil, yet keeps for a week in the fridge. Does it keep longer because of the addition of the acid?

Mika; The bacteria spores that cause botulism can spread in certain foods when not exposed to oxygen—as is the case when infusing garlic in oil. When homemade garlic-infused oil is left unrefrigerated or kept for too long, the chance of this bacteria growing is very real.
The FDA recommends that "if you want to make your own infused garlic oil, you should prepare it fresh and use it right away. If you are saving any leftovers, you must refrigerate it right away and use within a week."
... which would explain why dressings with garlic are also OK for up to a week if refrigerated. (plus I suspect that the acids in dressings, lemon juice in this case,help deter bacteria growth??)